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I wanted to share this email (with permission) from a former client. We had two calls a few years back addressing her concerns about nutrition and higher-than-average (but healthy) weight and appetite.
Note the contrast between anxiety and the sense of calm enjoyment.
Hi Katja,
It’s Halloween night and our whole family had such a wonderful time! Halloween is fun for our family and we are not full of anxiety. Maya and Andre (5 and 7) got home from school and into their costumes. The candy was in a huge basket by the door, but they...

I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons in the late ’70s. The cereal commercial barrage always ended with, “Part of a complete breakfast!”
That complete breakfast included juice, milk, cereal, toast and butter and some kind of fruit (or a close variation). It seemed like a wholesome spread! You’d have to sit down for that meal.
Recently I caught an ad for a ‘sugary’ cereal and the phrase was changed to “Part of a good breakfast.” The meal included: cereal, milk and an unpeeled...

In nine days, my family and I will embark on a grand adventure. We are taking the opportunity for a mid-life (we hope) reboot and hitting the road to live, travel, cook, home-school, and all the rest, in a 38-foot used RV we picked up a few months ago. We’ll be gone a full calendar year. I’ll be able to write and continue to work with clients by phone, though I don’t imagine I’ll be able to do any house-calls from the road (unless you are in the same state park…).
While I’m focused now on packing and...

This is the final of a 5 part series. Read Part 1: Healing a Child’s Food “Obsession”: Max’s Story
Part 2: Is My Child “Obsessed with Food? and Part 3: What Are You Worried About? and Part 4: Trying to Get Kids to Eat Less Backfires.
The Trust Model (division of responsibility) is healthy feeding and was described as “responsive feeding operationalized” in the Journal of Nutrition and Education (2011). You provide, plan, and feed so your child can let go of the anxiety, fear, and worry that is making it hard for...

This is part 4 of a 5 part series on food preoccupation. Read Part 1, Max’s Journey of Healing, Part 2, Is My Child Obsessed with Food? and Part 3 What Are You Worried About?
Health Care Providers Recommend Restriction
Like the rest of us, many clinicians simply aren’t aware of the research. They cling to simplistic ideas like, “It’s just calories in, calories out,” and the belief that cutting a few calories here and there adds up, like a math equation, to a certain number of pounds lost. But the issue is far more...

This is part 3 of a 5 part series on food preoccupation. Read Part 1, Max’s Journey of Healing and Part 2, Is My Child Obsessed with Food? This is a long post because the fear of fat and the consequences of that worry are so harmful, and that worry is the biggest barrier to supportive feeding…
The food preoccupied child is anxious and works hard to get food. The worried parent keeps food from the child. The harder the child works to get food, the harder the parents have to work to keep food away, even resorting to padlocks...

“I don’t even worry about her weight much, but her food obsession scares me to death. I struggled with an eating disorder, and I feel like the only thing she thinks about is when and how much she will eat.” – Alexis, mom to Greta age 2 1/2
Most parents of children who are preoccupied with food know there is a problem. Parents often rate their stress around food and their child as “11 out of 10.”
The word parents use most often is food “obsession.” I prefer “food...

Good reminder: often and early exposures help children learn to like veggies says an article about a recent study, which confirms earlier findings— most children learn to like foods with repeated exposures, and most parents give up after only a handful of tries. (Reminds me of my favorite “green bean study” which states that parents aren’t always good at knowing what foods a child “likes,” and to keep offering that food.)
This study (original here) seems to contradict earlier studies that suggested that a small...

This is not Max, but isn’t he cute? Now Max also enjoys treats as a part of a healthy relationship with food.
Helping Max Heal From Food ‘Obsession’
One of the most common issues I support parents around is the child who is preoccupied or “obsessed” with food. After a call with a client who has turned the corner, I was inspired to share their story. Max is on his way to becoming a competent eater. What this journal-style blog illustrates is the process, the doubt, the transformation, and that leap that...

photo from jamesbeard.org and recipe for dill spaetzle
Last night red cabbage and maple-dijon glazed pork were on my meal plan, but what to cook with it? I’d made potatoes already twice this week, and didn’t want noodles… Spaetzle! I’d had home made only once about 20 years ago, thought it looked complex, heck there are even special gadgets to make them! I looked up the recipe in Joy of Cooking, glanced at a few online resources and thought it looked like fun.
This method of mixing in a bag may be great for kids who...